By CAM LUCADOU-WELLS
A BERWICK father of six charged with drink-driving after crashing his car off the road has told police he had drunk alcohol after the crash but not immediately before.
The man, representing himself in Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on Monday, pleaded guilty to drink-driving, careless driving, failing to stop at an accident and failing to immediately report the crash to police.
Prosecutor Senior Constable Kerryn Buschgens told the court the man’s vehicle was seen driving up on a Berwick nature strip, colliding with a speed-limit sign, letter boxes and a car parked in a driveway about 6.20pm on 27 February.
About 7.15pm, police found the man at home, noting “moderate” damage to his car’s front end.
He blew 0.064 at a breath-test at Narre Warren police station at 8.45pm, and his licence was suspended on the spot.
The accused told police he had lost control of his car around a roundabout due to a right-hand tyre bursting.
In a panic, the man drove straight home and drank two Crown Lagers; he hadn’t drunk just before the collision, he told police.
He claimed he was “shitting himself and didn’t know what to do,” Sen Const Buschgens said.
The accused told the court he had been returning from Beaconsfield shops with his son at the time when his car’s rear end slid out at the roundabout.
He denied he was speeding otherwise his car would have been more damaged.
“I’d never had an accident.”
Given the man’s denials, magistrate Jack Vandersteen refused to proceed with the matter until the accused sought legal advice.
The accused replied he was “quite happy” to plead guilty.
Mr Vandersteen, in noting a mandatory 12-month loss of licence for a repeat drink-driving offence, replied: “You might not be.”
